Cody McCall (Stanley Kamel)
Cody McCall was a fictional character on the ABC daytime drama General Hospital. He was the father of Danny McCall and the adoptive father of Sam McCall. He was portrayed by Stanley Kamel from 2003-04. Background Cody and his ex-wife Evelyn were the adoptive parents of Sam McCall. After having their son Danny, they decided that they wanted another child. However, they didn't want to risk having another child naturally after Danny was born with the Fragile X gene, which caused a mental handicap. Cody and Evelyn could not afford to provide for two children with a mental handicap, so they decided to adopt instead of having another child naturally. After making the decision to adopt, Cody knew they would never be approved. So instead, he went out and bought a baby. They soon brought home a newborn baby girl whom they named Samantha. When Sam was around three years old, Cody and Evelyn began having problems in their marriage. Evelyn no longer wanted to deal with Cody's coning and drifting ways, so she left him taking only Danny with her. Cody was left to raise a three year old Sam all by himself. As a result Sam did not have a very stable upbringing. Cody and Sam moved from place to place and he took her on several of his cons. He taught Sam how to dive, salvage and run cons. He also taught her to steal money for him by picking people's pockets at carnivals and fairs. Cody promised Sam that if she helped him with his cons, he would help her get enough money to buy a boat. However, when they got the money, Cody stole from Sam and squandered it all on gambling and women. Sam was furious and at 17, after learning of Evelyn and Danny, she left Cody to go find them because she was tired of her father's ways. Storylines Cody arrived in Port Charles in 2003, following after his estranged daughter Sam who was chasing the Dead Man's Hand. Cody wanted to find the treasure before Sam and claim it for himself. Sam is less than pleased to see him and tells him to stay out of her life. Cody later meets Jasper Jacks and gets Sam fired from her job as Jax's secretary by telling lies about her. Cody continues causing problems for Jax and Sam, but Jax reassures Sam that he doesn't believe any of Cody's lies. Cody goes to Wyndemere under the alias of Bartholomew Cody. He meets Alexis Davis (Sam's biological mother) and applies for the job of butler, bodyguard and launch pilot. Alexis' nephew Nikolas Cassadine has an immediate distrust of Cody, but Cody explains that he only wants to have a job in Port Charles so he can be near his estranged daughter in the hope of a reconciliation. Alexis agrees to hire Cody on a trial basis but later finds him snooping around Nikolas' desk. Just as Alexis begins to question Cody, Nikolas and his friend, Emily Quartermaine arrive with an unconscious Sam and Cody uses the distraction to disappear. Cody listened in as a delirious Sam referenced a ship named "The Courage." Nikolas and Emily question Sam about this when she comes to but she covers by saying she wasn't talking about a ship, but an old saying that her father had about courage. Later on, Emily explains to Nikolas that, years ago, the Quartermaine family had a ship carrying a priceless treasure, which mysteriously disappeared, and the ship that mysteriously disappeared before it reached its destination was named "The Courage." Sam has a run in with Cody at Kelly's and tells him to stop spying on her and interfering in her business or she will reveal to the Cassadines who he truly is. In exchange, Cody threatens to make her life miserable if she ruins his cover. Cody continues to masquerade as the Cassadine butler to spy on Alexis and Nikolas. He overhears when Nikolas tells Emily that Sam refuses to share the treasure profits and interrupts them with an offer to dive for them, in order to get to the treasure first. Nikolas tells him that he'll consider the offer, but he and Emily both remain suspicious. Eventually, Nikolas takes Cody up on his offer to dive under his freighter and create an explosion to knock the freighter away from "The Courage" to get to the treasure more easily. Later an explosion underneath the water shakes up the The Haunted Star literally but soon everything goes calm again. The explosion injures Sam, who was working with Tracy Quartermaine and secretly diving for the treasure. After Sam recovers, Tracy asks her if she found the treasure. Sam tells Tracy that the treasure was gone, not realizing that Cody already took it. On the docks, Sam overhears Cody discussing the treasure with a man, and his plan to scam Nikolas so that he can pay the man back what he owes him. The man tells Cody he'd better repay soon, or Sam will be harmed. After the man leaves, Sam confronts her father and demands the treasure back. Cody admits to setting off the explosion, but claims he found nothing under the freighter. Sam doesn't believe him, and swims to the cave off of Spoon Island, where he's hiding the treasure. She hides as Cody comes out to bury the chest under branches, and takes it once he's gone. Cody returns with the mysterious man, only to find the treasure gone. He vows to find it and pay back what he owes. Meanwhile Jax has put the pieces together about Cody and Sam's connection. When he runs into Sam on the docks with the treasure, he chastises her for teaming up with her father to steal the treasure from its rightful owners-the Cassadines and the Quartermaines. Sam is hurt and denies teaming up with Cody. After Jax leaves, Cody shows up on the docks with the mysterious man who has a gun. They demand the treasure, but Sam is able to escape. Angry, the mysterious man knocks Cody out and chases after Sam. Nikolas confronts Cody about the location of the treasure. Cody insists that Sam took it and ran off. Nikolas tells him to find out where it is and return it to him since the treasure belongs to the Cassadine and Quartermaine families. Cody runs into the mysterious man again who turns out to be his bookie. He tells him Sam has the treasure and he doesn't know where to find her. The bookie finds Jax and questions him about Sam's whereabouts. Cody watches from afar as Jax insists that he doesn't know where Sam has gone. Later, Cody eavesdrops as Nikolas and Emily discuss another possible treasure, belonging to Nikolas' presumed Cassadine ancestor, Blackthorn. When Cody returns to the grotto a hitman is waiting for him. He attempts to save himself with Nikolas and Emily's story of the map. Back at Wyndemere, Emily and Nikolas further imagine the life of Blackthorn and Constance Quartermaine, and decide to look at the grotto again for additional clues. As they open the secret passageway, Emily screams at the dead body hanging in it. Cody was hung in the Wyndemere catacombs by the hitman who turned out to be his old business partner, Ben. Nikolas was arrested as a suspect in Cody's murder, but later found innocent. After killing Cody, Ben goes after Sam. He attacks her and taunts her about her father's death. Sam is saved by Sonny Corinthos, who stops Ben from raping her. Sam is reluctant to believe Ben about her father's death until Jax confirms it. Even though they had been estranged for years, Sam was wrecked at the loss of her father. Family tree References Category:General Hospital characters Category:Characters Category:2000s Category:McCall family Category:Characters created by Robert Guza, Jr. Category:Characters created by Charles Pratt, Jr. Category:Characters introduced by Jill Farren Phelps Category:Fictional con artists